Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of unease or worry or fear. Everyone experiences anxiety at different points in their life for different reasons perhaps you were anxious about an exam, having a job interview, waiting for results, or loosing your job. Though this is uncomfortable this is normal. However, sometimes the feelings of anxiety can feel uncontrollable and come for no apparent reason, they can be constant and can start affecting your daily life and functioning.

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Living with anxiety

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) can cause you to feel anxious about a range of different events and situations. This can lead to you feeling anxious most days and feel unable to relax, perhaps you find it difficult to remember the last time you were truly relaxed. It may feel like one thing leads to another in the sense that once the thing you were anxious about has been solved you may find another thing to be anxious about.

This can lead to both physical and psychological symptoms

Such as having trouble concentrating

Difficulty sleeping

Feeling restless or worried

irritability

You may find yourself withdrawing from social contact

You may also take time off work.

Physically you could feel

Tired

Heart beating fast

Trembling or shaking

Excessive sweating

Feeling sick

There are many different types of anxiety and anxiety can be the main symptom of many conditions such as;

Panic disorder - This is an anxiety disorder where you regularly have sudden attacks of panic or fear.

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Phobias - this is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of a place, situation, an object, feeling or animal.

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - This is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events.

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Social anxiety disorder (social phobia) - Is a long-lasting and overwhelming fear of social situations.

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Treatments for anxiety disorders

There are various treatments for anxiety which range from self help to medication to talking therapies. These methods can be tried alone or in combination with other methods. The most common is medication in combination with talking therapy. However whether you would benefit from both together or either one of the two will depend on the severity of anxiety you are experiencing. This is where it can be helpful to talk to a therapist about your anxiety and get a better understanding of what you are experiencing and what is available for you.